I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 844
To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to eligible entities
to carry out educational programs that include the history of peoples
of African descent in the settling and founding of America, the economic
and political environments that led to the development, institutionaliza-
tion, and abolition of slavery and its impact on all Americans, the
exploration and expansion of America, impact on and contributions to
the development and enhancement of American life, United States his-
tory, literature, the economy, politics, body of laws, and culture, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY31, 2025
Mrs. B
EATTY(for herself, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. BISHOP, Ms.
B
ONAMICI, Ms. BROWN, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CARTERof Louisiana, Ms.
C
ASTORof Florida, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. CLARKEof New
York, Mr. C
LEAVER, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. DAVISof Illinois, Mr. DAVISof
North Carolina, Ms. D
EGETTE, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr.
D
OGGETT, Mr. EVANSof Pennsylvania, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Ms. LOIS
F
RANKELof Florida, Mr. FROST, Mr. GOLDMANof New York, Mr.
G
REENof Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. IVEY,
Mr. J
ACKSONof Illinois, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Ms. KAMLAGER-
D
OVE, Mr. KENNEDYof New York, Ms. KELLYof Illinois, Mr. LARSEN
of Washington, Mr. L
YNCH, Mr. MAGAZINER, Mrs. MCBATH, Mrs.
M
CIVER, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. MENG, Ms. NORTON, Ms.
P
LASKETT, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mrs. SYKES,
Mr. T
HANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. TLAIB, Ms.
W
ASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms.
W
ATERS, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN, Ms. WILLIAMSof Georgia, and Ms.
W
ILSONof Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants
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to eligible entities to carry out educational programs
that include the history of peoples of African descent
in the settling and founding of America, the economic
and political environments that led to the development,
institutionalization, and abolition of slavery and its im-
pact on all Americans, the exploration and expansion
of America, impact on and contributions to the develop-
ment and enhancement of American life, United States
history, literature, the economy, politics, body of laws,
and culture, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Black History is Amer-4
ican History Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) Since before its founding, the United States 8
of America has benefited from and been enhanced by 9
the integral role African Americans have played in 10
our country’s history and contributions to the world. 11
(2) African-American history does not begin in 12
the Americas. It can be traced back to the great em-13
pires of West Africa beginning in A.D. 790, which 14
aided the establishment and survival of colonies in 15
America and the New World, generally, and fought 16
against European oppression. 17
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(3) African Americans have represented a sig-1
nificant portion of the American population from 2
nearly 20 percent at the signing of the Declaration 3
of Independence, almost all of whom, if not all, were 4
victims of the largest forced deportations in recorded 5
history, the transatlantic slave trade and resulting 6
African diaspora. It is estimated over 10,000,000 7
free Africans were enslaved between the mid-fif-8
teenth and nineteenth centuries during the diaspora. 9
(4) Slavery was not abolished and African 10
Americans not acknowledged as American citizens 11
until the mid-nineteenth century, servitude did not 12
abate their contributions to the settlement, growth, 13
and development of the United States, which contin-14
ued through Post-Reconstruction, Jim Crow, indus-15
trialization, World Wars and conflicts, innovation 16
and inventiveness, constitutional progress, and every 17
aspect of American society. 18
(5) During the civil rights movement of the 19
1950s and 1960s, civil rights leaders and activists 20
championed the fight for equal rights, including vot-21
ing rights, for all African Americans. 22
(6) The seminal case of Brown v. Board of 23
Education, decided May 17, 1954, found that the 24
decades-old policy of separate but equal access to 25
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education was inherently unequal, and the segrega-1
tion of Black public-school students was no longer 2
the law of the land. 3
(7) African Americans continue to fight dis-4
crimination, structural racism, economic inequities, 5
and benign and overt omission of the integral role 6
they played in our country’s rise to greatness. 7
(8) A number of States have passed educational 8
laws requiring Black history be incorporated into the 9
curricula of all public schools. 10
(9) Congress established the National Museum 11
of African American History and Culture in 2003 12
after decades of efforts to promote and highlight the 13
contributions of African Americans, which serves as 14
an indication of the national importance of exam-15
ining Black history. Since opening in 2016, the mu-16
seum has worked to educate the public on the Amer-17
ican story through the lens of African-American his-18
tory and culture and provide educators, parents, 19
caregivers, and students with tools and resources on 20
the African-American experience, its national im-21
pact, race, racism, and the importance of tolerance 22
and inclusivity. 23
(10) According to a 2015 research study con-24
ducted by the National Museum of African Amer-25
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ican History and Culture and reported in Research 1
into the State of African American History and Cul-2
ture in K–12 Public Schools, key findings indicated 3
that teachers considered Black history as influential 4
in understanding the complexity of United States 5
history. 6
(11) The importance of Black history is re-7
flected in the National Assessment of Educational 8
Progress United States History framework, from 9
pre-colonization through contemporary America. 10
(12) The Federal Government, through support 11
for educational activities of national museums estab-12
lished under Federal law, can assist teachers in ef-13
forts to incorporate historically accurate instruction 14
on the comprehensive history of African Americans 15
and students in their exploration of Black history as 16
an integral part of American history. 17
SEC. 3. AMERICAN HISTORY AND CIVICS EDUCATION. 18
(a) P
ROGRAMAUTHORIZED.—Section 2231(a) of the 19
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 20
U.S.C. 6661(a)) is amended— 21
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 22
inserting ‘‘, which shall include Black history,’’ after 23
‘‘American history’’; and 24
(2) in paragraph (2)— 25
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(A) by inserting ‘‘which shall include Black 1
history,’’ after ‘‘American history,’’; and 2
(B) by inserting ‘‘, which shall include 3
Black history’’ after ‘‘traditional American his-4
tory’’. 5
(b) P
RESIDENTIAL ANDCONGRESSIONALACADEMIES 6
FORAMERICANHISTORY ANDCIVICS.—Section 2232 of 7
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 8
U.S.C. 6662) is amended— 9
(1) in subsection (a)— 10
(A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, which 11
shall include Black history,’’ after ‘‘American 12
History’’; and 13
(B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, which 14
shall include Black history,’’ after ‘‘American 15
History’’; 16
(2) in subsection (c)(1), by inserting ‘‘, which 17
shall include Black history,’’ after ‘‘American his-18
tory’’; 19
(3) in subsection (e)— 20
(A) in paragraph (1)— 21
(i) by inserting ‘‘, which shall include 22
Black history,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; 23
(ii) in subparagraph (A)— 24
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(I) by inserting ‘‘, which shall in-1
clude Black history,’’ after ‘‘teachers 2
of American history’’; and 3
(II) by inserting ‘‘, which shall 4
include Black history,’’ after ‘‘subjects 5
of American history’’; and 6
(iii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 7
‘‘, which shall include Black history,’’ after 8
‘‘American history’’; 9
(B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, which 10
shall include Black history,’’ after ‘‘American 11
history’’; and 12
(C) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, and 13
with the Smithsonian Institution’s National 14
Museum of African American History and Cul-15
ture initiative providing programs and resources 16
for educators and students’’ after ‘‘National 17
Parks’’; and 18
(4) in subsection (f)— 19
(A) by inserting ‘‘, which shall include 20
Black history,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; 21
(B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, 22
which shall include Black history,’’ after 23
‘‘American history’’; and 24
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(C) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, 1
which shall include Black history,’’ after 2
‘‘American history’’. 3
(c) N
ATIONALACTIVITIES.—Section 2233 of the Ele-4
mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 5
6663) is amended— 6
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘which shall 7
include Black history,’’ after ‘‘American history,’’; 8
and 9
(2) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘which shall 10
include Black history,’’ after ‘‘American history,’’. 11
(d) N
ATIONALASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL 12
P
ROGRESS.—Section 303(b)(2)(D) of the National As-13
sessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act (20 14
U.S.C. 9622(b)(2)(D)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(which 15
shall include Black history)’’ after ‘‘history,’’. 16
Æ
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